Three men accused of trying to distribute cocaine were indicted on federal charges Wednesday.

Court records said it all started back at the end of May, when an undercover agent with the Department of Homeland Security arranged a meeting with a man from El Paso, Texas.

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The plan was to sell the drugs in Louisville.

On June 26 at the Sam's Club on Preston Highway, court documents said two undercover Homeland Security agents met Daniel Madrid-Mendoza.

They said the El Paso native introduced the agents to his associate, Jorge Rosales-Gonzalez, and cousin Efren Castellanos-Lara.

Investigators say Rosales-Gonzalez was going to buy several kilograms of cocaine from federal authorities.

"These are allegations, but generally speaking, kilograms is someone that's selling drugs for profit," said defense attorney Brian Butler, who is representing Rosales-Gonzalez.

Documents said the feds' asking price was $77,000 for three kilograms of the drug.

"Significant normal use of cocaine might be a gram or less, which is in a Sweet 'N Low bag. So obviously a kilogram is 1,000 times that," said Butler.

Authorities said Rosales-Gonzalez told the undercover agents that his buyer would not put up that kind of money without seeing the product first.

So reports said the group met again at the Home Depot down the street a few hours later, where Rosales-Gonzalez gave agents $30,000 and 25 pounds of marijuana as collateral for the cocaine.

According to an affidavit, once the transaction was complete, the three men were arrested.

Madrid-Mendoza told the officers he had come to Louisville to meet a few friends and ended up with the wrong crowd.

The other two suspects stayed quiet about what happened.

"Generally speaking, we're going to get more documentation to try to, number one, determine if the government can prove my client had any role in this, and if so, what level of role and all those things come into play and help decide what the next step is," said Butler.

All three suspects were charged with conspiracy to possess and distribute cocaine.

They will be arraigned at the end of the month.

If convicted, each suspect could face anywhere from five to 40 years in prison.